WEBVTT
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It is the award-winning Edwill Time Car Talk Show today coming to you from the Easter edition of Tailpipes and Tacos The Cruise Inn at the Lupi Tortilla Tex Mex in Katy, Texas.
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Just ahead, we're going to have uh recalls and uh maybe what the new car is sold for.
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Well, new car to us.
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It's off a hemming, so it's probably old.
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Anyway, we've got all of that coming up, and uh we've got more fun things to talk about as well, including our story of the week.
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Thanks for being with us today.
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Uh we're coming to you from the Lupi Trotea in Katy, Texas, along with Mike out of this world, Mars.
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We always need more Jeb Zekin, our chief engineer, David Ainsley.
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My name is Don Armstrong.
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So glad that you could join us today.
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Mr.
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Mars, we're gonna do your national parks thing here in just a second, if you want to get ready for that.
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But in the meantime and in between time, I thought that we would do our story of the week here.
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And um, it's this U.S.
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car market sputtering into the spring selling system, a s season, and bracing for more volatility, signaling the potential for a new near repeat of the shocks, ebbs, and flows of 2025.
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U.S.
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sales by numerous automakers declined in the first quarter as a confluence of factors, vehicle affordability, huge, surge in gasoline prices, big, lackluster job growth, and waning consumer confidence pushed the market lower.
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On top of that, the industry didn't have the added tailwind of looming tariffs to motivate price-conscious consumers, as dealerships experienced a year ago.
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And the loss of a sizable federal tax credit credit toward electric vehicles continues to be a drag on volume as well.
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First quarter deliveries fell at most of the biggest automakers, GM, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Nissan, but it was the sixth consecutive quarter of growth for Honda Kia and the third straight for Stellantis at Toyota.
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Lexus posted its first quarterly decline in more than three years.
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In addition to having the industry's leanest inventory and high churn rates, Toyota is juggling the launch of a redesigned RAV 4.
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Have you seen it?
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What?
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Sales have fallen for two consecutive quarters at GM, but executives say the automaker can weather more headwinds.
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Yeah.
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Because Mary Barrow is still making what a bit billion dollars a year.
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Yeah, and they're doing some kind of uh welcome all, welcome everybody at the factories or something, some kind of and and they moved from the Ren Center in Detroit to their own.
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Yeah, uh there's a thing, and not not to interject on that, that uh it's empty.
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It's empty.
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What's empty?
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The uh Ren Center.
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The Ren Center?
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Oh yeah, I think there's only a couple of there's a uh what do they have it where you get your passport and things?
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The uh passport center.
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Whatever.
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Anyways, but they've they only have two of those in there.
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You can get to the hotel, but that's it.
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Is the Starbucks still there?
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I don't know.
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Oh god.
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Some of the biggest first quarter declines occurred at smaller automakers, including those more dependent on import.
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Sales fell 14% at Mazda, 15% at Mitsubishi, at Subaru, volume dropped for an eighth straight month, down 24% in March, and 15% for the quarter.
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That's surprising.
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Uh and the reason I say that is because I just got finished driving as a test car, the all-new, all-electric Subaru, uh Uncharted, which is a new name for them.
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Are you doing a review this week on that?
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It's a very nice car that'll be next week.
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And uh, not that that's gonna bring them out of the doldrums, but you know, you can only carry uh the same cars so long with the same sheet metal, so you put some different paint on it, you can you know jack it up, make it look off-road, but it's still the same.
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No, not like that.
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No, we got one foot.
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We got one foot in the grave here.
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Lots of body putty.
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There are other signs that consumers are seeking more value in new car showrooms.
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Ford, after discontinuing one of its least expensive models, the Escape, hopes to entice shoppers into other utility vehicles, notably the Bronco Sport, which I've always liked.
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That set a first quarter sales record of 35,000, up five percent.
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Entry-level trims of the Maverick, Ranger and Bronco Sport rose 8.4% combined, Ford said.
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And Stellantes.
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Oh boy.
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Here we go.
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Appears to be finding its stride after years of market share losses.
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Automakers U.S.
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sales rose 4.1% in the first quarter on gains at Ram Jeep and Dodge, despite the fact that they stopped making the V8 engine.
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What moron would come into a company, make a bajillion dollars himself, and then oh, we're not gonna make the Challenger and uh the Charger anymore.
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Yes, they were our top sellers for years and still are, but we're not gonna make those anymore.
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We're gonna make it all electric.
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Go tell a hot rotter that he's gonna get into an electric, not.
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Jeez, talk about shrinking sales.
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Delanis received a boost from the redesigned Jeep Cherokee and the freshened Grand Wagoneer, which I understand that Sheila's driving.
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Ram sales jumped 20 percent, marking its first best quarter since 2023.
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Sales of 15 uh the 1500 pickup surging 27 percent.
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Company revived its 5.7 liter V8 engine on the 2026 Ram 1500 last year after dropping it from the BS years.
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Who who would do something like that?
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Not a car guy.
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And it's funny, they keep hiring CEOs that aren't car guys.
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Yeah, why would you do that?
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Yep.
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We had a CEO of our uh Mike is gonna get into brain surgery.
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Yep.
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Well, I can see I could see that.
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No.
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We had a CEO of uh company that came from Coca-Cola, he lasted less than a year.
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Yeah, yeah, but it but that's the thing at the CEO level.
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They think that they're so high.
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They don't need to know what we know how to run the business.
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They need to know how to tell other people, to tell other people, to tell other people, to tell other people how to run the business.
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Look how good he did over there.
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It doesn't mean you're gonna do good over here.
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Exactly.
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They're do-gooders.
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Yeah, there you go.
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That's all they are is do-gooders.
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Wannabeers, the wannabees run them out of town.
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Yeah.
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Um I I I I don't understand the philosophy of these folks that uh continually hire CEOs that know nothing about the business.
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I I'm I'm the stupid one.
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It makes no sense to me.
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Is it to you?
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We're the stupid ones because we're not doing it.
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Well, it's my my experience in the C in that world, it's not about what you know.
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Guys like us, yeah, I only know of one that ever started that made it top, and that was in Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.
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Both.
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Oh.
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But you know, other than him, all about what school you you went to, who you met, who you know that can get you in it.
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Yep, exactly.
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Same thing in politics.
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Yeah, that's that's pretty much what it amounts to.
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And that's what I told my grandkids.
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You want to know how to do something, go to the school that teaches you.
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You want to know how to move up in the world, go to UT or go to AM, someplace where you can make connections, because that's most important.
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Yeah.
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Well, same speaking of things that are important, everybody's kind of looking forward to summer vacation now that we're at Easter and making plans for that.
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And I know that you've got a special feature on uh national parks and summer road trips.
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Yeah, there was so much to do.
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I kind of split it up.
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So we're gonna take kind of the west side of the country uh this week, but when you start thinking about summer road trips to the national parks, then we're not really close to any of them, so you've got to make some plans.
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Well, we do have a national forest nearby.
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We do.
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Well, you do, but that's not quite where you're gonna find uh from a driving perspective, you're not gonna find a lot of switchbacks or long straightaways to to really get into some elevation changes and things.
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Enjoy your car.
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Enjoy the car.
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So trying to do both of them, these are a few places you might go to.
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So Glacier National Park, and it's called Going to the Sun Road.
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Oh, now it's it's got a lot of tight switchbacks, it's got a lot of narrow lanes, uh drop offs, the Glacier National Park.
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But the glaciers, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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So if you really want to go out driving wise, you go to or go in the early morning when there's not a lot of people out there, the mountain air is a little more crisp, a lot of cooler, it's easier to drive the in a more spirited manner whenever you're doing that.
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And a couple of cars you might want to look at if you're out there.
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If you have an opportunity, maybe use something like a Mustang, a Ford Mustang.
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But of course, if you got the family with you, then you're going to be looking for something, maybe an SUV like the Explorer to uh carry the family with you to go see all the sites and all the uh valleys and the hills and everything that the family's gonna want to see.
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I knew that.
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The other one we want to talk about that would give you some uh a little bit of both worlds would be the Tyoga Pass in Yos Yosimite Yosemite, Yosemite.
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However, you want to do it.
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I'm trying to cover all the bases.
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There you go.
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It's Yosemite to me, National Park.
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We knew you were bilingual.
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Now, the thing about this is whenever you're going on this drive, you're gonna run into a lot of sweeping curves.
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It all gives you a nice steady pace to go through it, but you go up above 9,000 feet.
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And so your car is going to be running on some thin air in there.
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So whenever you start coming back down, you're doing going through the curves and along straights, you gotta kind of get into a rhythm, but you really don't want to get too spirited with it because uh your car is not gonna react like it does down at sea level or down even down here below sea level.
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There you go.
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Uh something you might want to look at for that.
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If you got a whole family with you, of course, something like a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
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You still got plenty of power, you can still feel the road and enjoy that.
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But if you're just you, maybe your special friend or something, you might try and do the Honda Civic.
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Get a little more spirited driving going.
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A little bit more oof.
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Then uh the other one would be the Trail Ridge Road in the Rocky Mountain National Park.
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So this is kind of the this is actually the highest continuous paved road in the United States.
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Wow.
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So you got long climbs, steep descents.
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You can center, you can got a lot of wide open views above the tree line, so you can see a lot of place.
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But here's the problem with this one when you're coming downhill, you got to worry about your brakes.
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You got to do some brake management because you don't want your brakes to overheat in the steep descent.
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Um, and then you've got engine cooling you're gonna have to worry about if you're up there in the summer, even though it's up high, the elevation is a little cooler, but the engines really got to work a lot harder when they go through all these sweeping curves and above the tree line, and you're gonna see all the horizon that's like way over there, endlessly away.
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So uh something you might drive there, maybe if you get a chance, maybe one of the BMW 3 series, uh a Subaru has got some all-wheel drive vehicles that could work really well, or you might try the Miata MX5, which would be what I would think would be really fun if you don't have the kids with you.
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Of course.
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So you get to kind of look at what you're in.
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So when you go to these national parks and you start thinking about them as destinations, obviously you know you may want to take the kids, you got a lot of scenics uh scenes to drive through for the elevation, the surface, surface scenery that you can see and stop and make some changes and uh get the family involved, or you can enjoy the drive a little bit more depending on what you're driving.
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So do some planning uh to go to the national parks for this summer.
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There you go.
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Thank you, Mike.
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All right.
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Um let me let me look at the time.
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I have uh thinking then that it's maybe time to take a break.
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Okay.
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Are you okay with that?
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I'm fine.
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Anybody else is asking to take a poll?
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Take a poll.
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You know, there's more people here than I thought.
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They're rolling in.
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Yeah, they are still rolling.
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Not bad, a little overcast.
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It's a little humid, humid.
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But it's it's cool.
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It's nice and cool without being cold.
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It's hot like us.
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Hot.
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The humidity is 150%.
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But um, you know, if you're good with that, I'm good with it.
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Uh is my having a bad hair day.
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I truly am.
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Are you?
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Yeah.
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Both of them are like going crazy.
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Coming up.
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Jeff has the cruise in and events calendars, and I'll have the stories making autumn's headlines this week, hopefully.
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So we invite you to stay with us.
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By the way, we're coming to you today from Tailpipes and Tacos, the cruise in at the Lupito, Texas, near the intersection of I-10, the CD Freeway, and 99, the Grand Park.
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Far come on by.
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We'll be here till eleven o'clock this morning, and the restaurant opens at 11, so you can go in and get yourself some really fine.
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And they're good.
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I had one.
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All right.
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We've got all that coming up.
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We hope you'll stay with us here on the Inwheel Time Car Talk Show.
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We continue after this quick break.
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The Easter Bunny's coming.
00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:59.759
To the tailpipes and tacos cruise in at the Loopy Tortilla Tex Max in Katie, April 4th, 8 to 11 a.m.
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And you're invited to.
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Bring the kids and grandkids.
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It's a cruise-in like you've never attended before.
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With the donation to Shirley's Kids, you'll get a free Loopy Tortilla breakfast taco.
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There'll be coffee and adult beverages, plus chili pepper trophies for the best hot rod, best modern classic, and best classic.
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There's no entry fee and no registration.
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Just bring your ride and the kids.
00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:26.559
Best bunnies aren't allowed, but the Easter bunny will be there, and he'll be full of joy to help make this tailpipes and tacos a very special one.
00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:28.080
Photo opportunities abound.
00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:34.159
The NRL Time Car Talk Show will be streaming around the globe, and you can be selected to tell your car story to a global audience.
00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:39.039
It's the Tail Pipes and Tacos Cruise and Easter edition, Saturday, April 4th, 8 to 11 a.m.
00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:45.840
at the Loopy Tortilla Tex Max in Katy, located on 99 the Grand Parkway, just south of I10, the Katy Freeway in Katy.
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Make plans now.
00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:49.200
Loopy Tortilla is pretty good.
00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:55.840
Apple or Android in Wheel Time podcasts can be found everywhere, on the stream and through downloads.
00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.440
Whether you're on the road or at home and Jones in for a different kind of car talk show, give In Wheel Time a try.
00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:11.360
Honest new car reviews, fun, informative interviews with real car people, weekly automotive news, features like Jeff's car culture and Mike's driving destinations, all on In Wheel Time.
00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:17.279
Check us out on Sirius XM Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or while you're shopping on Amazon through Amazon Music.
00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:17.759
Mm-hmm.
00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:21.440
InWheel Time.com has a list, and we know you love lists.
00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:24.559
Welcome back to the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:31.200
We're coming to you live today from the Lupitourtia Tex Mex in Katy for tailpipes and tacos.
00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:33.279
And we'll be here till 11.
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Hope you'll stop by.
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I've got a nice turnout here for the cruise in, all sorts of cars, lots of fun stuff going on.
00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:40.720
The Easter Bunny is here.
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We've got a display of all the fine pedal cars.
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Did you see the pedal cars?
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I did.
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I did.
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They're getting loaded in.
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Sheila's taking them out of some of them out of her car.
00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:52.000
And look what you have in front of her in front of you.
00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:54.639
So this is the new Wally.
00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:56.960
Yeah, Stan Talk well, the 50th anniversary Wally.
00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:58.480
That's a special edition for that year.
00:15:58.879 --> 00:15:59.440
That's what I say.
00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:00.320
It's the new Wally.
00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:02.159
Yeah, 75 years.
00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:03.440
75 years, I apologize.